I recently competed in the Duathlon UTI World Championships in Concord, NC (near Charlotte) featuring over 1,000 athletes from 20 countries. Identical to Nationals, it would be a 10K run + 40K bike + 5K run. Competition ranged from the Elites to Age Groupers. After winning the Duathlon Nationals this past April, I qualified for this Worlds event and was invited to become a member of TEAM USA to represent the USA at Worlds which took place last Saturday (Sept 26) at the Lowes Motor Speedway. This was an opportunity of a lfetime, as Worlds rotates countries every year. Last year they were in Italy, and in Australia in 2007. It was a long 2-day drive of 1,260 miles each way, and we camped out in a mini-motorhome at the Speedway.
The weather was warm and quite humid the first few days. The first day was spent getting registered, checking out the expo, running portions of the course, and participating in the opening ceremonies at the Speedway. The second day was full with a TEAM USA meeting, tour of the bike course, and photo session at the Speedway. It was imperative to know the running and biking courses, as they involved a total of over 130 total turns! All the runs were on the same 5K loop (with over 20 tunrs per loop), and the biking covered two loops of a 12 mile circuit (with 35 turns per loop). Unfortunately, it rained during the entire event, and with all the turns would make for a slippery race and likely not produce record times. The race venue had athletes starting in waves and running and finishing on the NASCAR Speedway track, with courses on the actual tarmac as well as on roads around the area which were mostly hilly, to my surprise.
The Opening Ceremonies were cool, whereby athletes from each country paraded in front of the crowd on the Speedway. We were furnished special "parade uniforms" (TEAM USA sport shirt, hat, socks, etc.)that we wore, and were required to race with special TEAM USA race clothing that featured "USA" with each athlete's last name in bold letters. The ceremony ended with several sky-divers landing with a huge USA flag, and NASCAR pit crews provided wheel change demos (those guys are FAST)..
All 50+ males started together on the Speedway start line as the rain started again on Saturday, mid-afternoon. Bikes had to checked in the previous day, so they'd been out all night in the rain! Successive large groups followed in 10-min intervals. The Elites had finished just before my race. When the gun went off, it wasn't long before the lead runners were starting to disappear from sight - some truely world-class athletes from many countries. It wasn't long before the younger runners started to catch the 50+ runners, and some areas of the course got a bit crowded. I ran 41:04 for my 10K and finished intact. I was hoping to make up considerable time on the bike, but knew it would be a challenge with the numerous turns and continuous rain. The cycling portion had been shortened to 11 miles per loop due to conditions on the Z-Max Dragway, which was to my disadvantage!. It was imperative not to crash in the turns, so I had to ride relatively conservative. After every turn, I found myself sprinting to gain momentum. This effort, in addtion to runnung a 10K, started some cramping in my calves. But I caught a second wind in the final 5K and finished strong.
I ended up placing 8th overall, and posted the 2nd fastest bike portion (only the overall winner had a faster bike portion), and no one else passed me on the bike! The offical results show my bike average at 24.8 MPH, but they apparently didn't take into consideration the shortening of the distance. My computer showed 22.2 MPH. The first place 60-year old caught me with a mile to go (Steve Ruckert). We had finished together at Nationals in April to win our age-groups, and now he was on his way to a Worlds title. We exchanged a few words and encouraged one another to the finish. This helped me finish just a few seonds ahead of the 9th place runner.
It was really cool to be able to ride one lap of the 1-1/2 mile NASCAR track per bike loop. The track and entire area covered a huge chunk of real estate with seating for close to 200,000 NASCAR fans. Virtually all the top finishers in my field had recently turned 55, but at age 58, I consider myself thankful for the good helath and vitality to compete in various masters events, and this Worlds event was just frosting on the cake. Found out that the husband of the couple from Canada that camped next to us was the guy in 55+ that posted the 36:53 10K (Bill Wheeler), which earned him a Bronze medal. There were 38 competitors that qualified in the 55+ of which 35 finished the race. I later heard that there were a number of crashes, and spouses, friends and relatives cringed whenever they heard ambulances in the distance. The rain continued heavily after the event and throughout the night. Depsite the fact that we wore ankle timing chips, officials had difficulty scoring the race. Results were still not available at the post race party at the Embass Suites, and did not get posted until 1:30 AM the next day! Unfortunately, they only go 3 deep on awards, so I felt bad for the Italian and Irishman who had traveled so far.
Top Ten 55+ Age Group finishers:
1 - USA
2 - Norway
3 - Canada
4 - Italy
5 - Ireland
6-10 - USA
Here's a link for more info. http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php#racetop
Next I will be competing in the World Senior Games in St George , UT with four days of competivive cycle racing from Oct 6-9. See you on the road!
Fred Galata
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